Istanbul
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky during a video address to the Danish parliament said Russia's siege of Mariupol is a "crime against humanity".
"What the Russian troops are doing to Mariupol is a crime against humanity, which is happening in front of the eyes of the whole planet in real-time", Zelensky told Danish parliamentarians.
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According to the United Nations agency, 3.9 million Ukrainians have fled the country since the Russian invasion began last month. UNHCR said the daily outflow rate of refugees was 40,000 per day.
"There were no military ambitions in Mykolaiv, the people in Mykolaiv presented no threat to Russia. And even then, like all the Ukrainians, they became the targets for the Russian troops", Zelensky said adding, "seven people were killed, 22 were wounded, and people are still going through the rubble."
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Reports say Mariupol has been heavily bombarded by Russian forces in the past few weeks with water, electricity and food running low even as several thousand civilians remain trapped in the city. A Ukrainian official said at least 5,000 people have already died due to continued Russian shelling.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's negotiator said if the security guarantee system works out then Ukraine will agree to neutral status.
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The negotiator said neutral status would include not having foreign military bases while adding that a referendum in Ukraine would be needed on terms of agreement with Russia.
"We want an international mechanism of security guarantees where guarantor countries will act in a similar way to NATO's article number five -- and even more firmly," David Arakhamia, a Ukrainian negotiator said.
Russian and Ukrainian negotiators began their talks in Istanbul at the Dolmabahce palace in Istanbul on Tuesday amid attacks in Ukraine even as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who hosted the event urged "an end to this tragedy".
The Russian negotiator said "meaningful" talks were held with Ukraine officials.
Turkish foreign minister Mevlut said he was "encouraged for a ceasefire as soon as possible" while adding, "We have seen that they have achieved some progress, they reached consensus."
Russia's deputy defence minister Alexander Fomin said his forces are ready to scale down fighting near Kyiv and Chernihiv to create a conducive atmosphere for the dialogue process.
(With inputs from Agencies)